Community Emergency Plan
A Getting Started Guide
What is the purpose of this guide? This document is a step-by-step guide to help you and your community produce a Community Emergency Plan. A Community Emergency Plan is a tool you can use to help you prepare for the emergencies that could affect your community. It is just one way of planning within your community. You may wish to tailor your approach to better suit the needs of your community.
This guide is linked to: The ‘template community emergency plan’ and the ‘example completed community emergency plan’ – links to the documents on the website.
This guide sets out how to complete your plan. Look out for the buttons. These buttons tell you when you need to complete sections of the template plan.
Before you start, you may also want to read the general information about Knowing the Risks in your area at xxx and on Directgov at http://www.direct.gov.uk/preparingforemergencies
Community resilience champions To help develop community resilience in Bedfordshire we have a strong partnership with volunteer groups. A volunteer from your local area will own and administer the Community Emergency Plan. To find out if your area has a volunteer community resilience champion please contact us at: [email protected] or telephone 0300 300 4439.
Membership of our emergency volunteers group On completion of you community emergency plan we will invite you all to become members of our emergency volunteers group, known as BLEVEC. This will provide you with a number of benefits, which in summary comprise:
Information provision through frequent bulletins and newsletters
The provision of training – we run free evening training on many different aspects of emergency response on the 2nd Tuesday of every month from 19:30 – 21:30
Access to a social network to get to know other responders and communities involved
Access to information in an emergency situation or event and the ability to update responders through the use of our intranet.
Step 1 – Identify your Community Emergency Response Team Begin by considering who should be in your community emergency group. The aim of the Community Emergency Group is to champion the emergency preparedness efforts in your community. They will also play a role in your community’s emergency response and recovery.
Community resilience is something many people and communities already do. It is not about creating or identifying a new community network, or a one-off response to an incident, but rather an ongoing process of using and enhancing existing relationships.
Consider what already exists around you, who you already talk to, and how you could work together before, during and after an incident. You could look to existing local community networks and groups within your community to see if they can get involved. You can use the checklist below as a starting point and try to identify representatives from:
Parish/Ward British Red Cross Faith groups
Rotary / Lions Community Safety Group (if your area Local Policing Team has one) Neighbourhood Parent and Teach Association Residents association Watch Youth Groups Community Centre / Village Hall Local businesses and shops
Scouts / Guides Farmers Local voluntary organisations and charities
Your Community Emergency Group may change overtime, especially as other community groups in your area get involved.
You need to elect a plan administrator, who will own and keep the plan up to date. In many cases this will be your volunteer community resilience champion, but this may not be possible in all areas.
You should choose a Community Emergency Coordinator for your community. The coordinator takes a lead role in organising and taking forward the work of the Community Emergency Group and helping to sustain motivation and interest. The Community Emergency Coordinator could be an elected member or could work closely with elected members. The coordinator will in an emergency act as a contact point between the Community Emergency Group and us (your local emergency responders).
Once you have decided on a plan administrator and community emergency coordinator fill in their details in your plan. Your community emergency coordinator will also become the single point of contact for your community in an emergency. It is good practice to nominate a deputy. Please ensure that you pass these details onto us via email [email protected] or telephone 0300 300 4439.
Once you have decided on the members of your community emergency group complete their details in your plan.
If appropriate set-up a dedicated Twitter account for your Community Emergency Group. You could use this to help communicate with us and between your emergency group in an emergency. Insert the hash tag in your plan. Make sure you follow us at @what_would.
Step 2 - Sign-up your Community Emergency Group to receive emergency alerts Once you have your Community Emergency Group in place, you will need to get your group members signed-up to receive relevant emergency alerts. Your plan administrator can do this on the groups behalf.
Met Office severe weather warnings: The Met Office warn the public and emergency responders of severe or hazardous weather which has the potential to cause danger to life or widespread disruption through our National Severe Weather Warning Service. They issue warnings for rain, snow, wind, fog and ice. These warnings will be given a colour depending on a combination of both the likelihood of the event happening and the impact the conditions may have.
The Met Office now offers the public the opportunity to sign up to receive e-mail alerts when warnings are issued for their chosen region(s). The e-mails will alert the recipient to the fact that a warning has been issued and direct them to the Met Office website for the latest detail. Follow this link to get signed-up: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/guide-to-emails
Environment Agency Flood Warnings: Floodline Warnings Direct is a free service offered by the Environment Agency which sends you a direct message when flooding (from rivers or the sea) is expected and may affect your property. Flood warnings will give you time to prepare for flooding which could save you time, money and heartache. You can receive warnings by telephone, mobile, email, SMS text message or fax, whichever you prefer.
If you are leading an emergency group in an area that is at risk of flooding, or could be potentially be cut off by flooding but your property is not as risk, then you can register as an 'Area of Interest'. Ask Floodline to put you through to your local area office who will be able to register you for the warning most appropriate to you. To register to receive a flood warning for your local area call Floodline on 0845 988 1188 or visit www.environment-agency.gov.uk/floodanglian
Flood App: Flood warnings can also be received through a Flood Alert App. 'Flood Alert' enables people to receive warnings relating to their current location, as well as up to two extra locations of interest such as your workplace or an elderly relative’s local town. A free version of Flood Alert can be downloaded from the Apple ‘App Store’.
Flooding Facebook: A new Facebook page has also been launched to help communities at risk of flooding to engage and network with others facing similar challenges across the UK. This is known as Flood Group UK. Flood Group UK enables communities to share information, experiences and advice about flooding. It also contains a flood directory with information on how people can find out if they are at risk of flooding, how to sign up for our free flood warnings and how householders can protect their property. Visit www.facebook.com/floodgroupuk to find out more. Defra Animal Disease Alerts: Animal Health’s free disease alert subscription service is designed to help people on the move keep in touch with the latest developments regarding animal disease.
The service is mainly for farmers and livestock keepers, although it’s available to everyone. By registering, you will receive information via your choice of text, fax, voicemail or email on up to five notifiable animal diseases. To sign up or manage alerts visit the subscription pages or call 0844 884 9888. For further information visit: http://animalhealth.defra.gov.uk/alerts/
Bedfordshire Police text message system: From time to time, Bedfordshire Police operates an SMS text messaging service to update members of the public with news and information relating to certain events and incidents. Details of how to subscribe will be publicised in advance of events for which the service is operating.
However, to subscribe to the general messages, simply text the word POLICE to 88020. Texts to 88020 are charged at your standard network rate. Texts from this service to your phone are free. For full terms and conditions visit: http://www.bedfordshire.police.uk/advice_centre/sms_messaging_service.aspx
Bedfordshire Police Community Messaging: Ringmaster is a computerised crime messaging system run by Bedfordshire Police, which offers local residents, Neighbourhood Watch members, businesses, farms, and Bedfordshire Police’s partners, throughout Bedfordshire, details about crime and events in their local area.
The service is free to everyone. You can receive information via email, view your messages online, or receive messages via phone at a time to suit you. There are currently (Jan 2012) 15,000 members of the public and other partner agencies registered on the system. You can join Ringmaster by applying online at http://www.safer-beds.org/ or alternatively you can phone 01234 275288, or 01582 394023 if you live in Luton.
‘What would you do if?’ on Twitter: Follow us @what_would for tips, advice, events and information on preparing you, your family and community for emergencies. Find out more at: www.bllrf.org.uk
‘What would you do if?’ on Facebook: Facebook page www.facebook.com/whatwouldyoudoif for tips, discussions, events and information on preparing you, your family and community for emergencies. Find out more at: www.bllrf.org.uk Step 3 – Organise a community resilience training session The Bedfordshire and Luton Local Resilience Forum (BLLRF) will provide your community emergency group with advice and training to ensure you can complete and maintain your community emergency plan successfully.
Organise a date and time to get your Community Emergency Group and us together so we can attend and provide training on starting and completing your plan. We will also provide awareness training in emergency management and the arrangements we have in place in Bedfordshire and Luton.
In the training session we will run through the steps required to complete your plan and start to fill it in. By the end of the training session you will have a first draft of your Community Emergency Plan in place.
Contact us to arrange your training session via email [email protected] or telephone 0300 300 4145. After the training your Community Emergency Group will need to meet again to go through the steps below and fill in the detail and gaps in your plan.
Step 4 - Identify your risks It is important to be aware of the risks that could affect your community, and understand how you could be affected by them, in order to improve your community’s resilience. Individuals and communities should prepare for the risks they feel are relevant to their area.
You should use local knowledge to identify risks in your local area. For example, is there a local road that regularly floods, or a footpath that could become unusable in severe weather?
The Bedfordshire and Luton Local Resilience Forum (BLLRF) meets regularly to coordinate the planning for emergencies affecting the area and has a duty to publish a Community Risk Register, showing what local hazards and threats have been identified. You can also see a list of the main local risks on the BLLRF website at http://www.bllrf.org.uk/get_informed/local_risks.php
Local flooding information such as flooding from rivers and reservoirs can also be found on the Environment Agency website at www.environment-agency.gov.uk/floodanglian. Other aspects to consider when assessing the impact of incidents on your local area could include:
Are there any known vulnerable people/groups in the area? Are there any particular areas that flood regularly?
Are there any sites of environmental or historic importance, such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest, which may be affected?
Is there a major transport hub in the area?
Are there any bridges or main roads?
Are there any large industrial sites in the area?
With your Community Emergency Group fill in the Local Risk Assessment to identify potential hazards and their impact on your community and what you can do to reduce the impacts. You may find it useful to discuss this assessment with us to make sure you understand how you can complement the work of the local emergency responders in an emergency via email [email protected] or telephone 0300 300 4439. Step 5 – Identify people and organisations that can help in an emergency (assessing your communities skills and resources) Once your community is aware of the risks it might need to prepare for, it is important to consider what skills, resources and equipment your community already has that can be used, if needed, during or after an emergency. You may want to assess your community’s existing skills and resources under the following categories:
Volunteers: Volunteering is often spontaneous by nature and many communities and individuals automatically help each other during times of need. However, as part of your planning, you could speak to individuals and groups in your community and ask them if they would be willing to volunteer during an emergency, and what skills, tools or resources could be used. Potential volunteers may need to have permission from their employer to ensure that they could be released in an emergency. Remember to ensure your plan allows for volunteers who come forward in the event of an incident to be included in your responses.
Any community emergency plan should be developed in such a way as to allow people to volunteer before, during or after an emergency. Some people will only offer assistance once something has actually happened, and could be a valuable resource to your response.
Some people, or local voluntary groups in your community may already be involved in emergency planning and response through our emergency volunteer partnership (BLEVEC), such as the Beds, Herts and Cambs 4x4 Response Team, British Red Cross, St. John Ambulance, Midshires Search and Rescue etc. A full list of BLEVEC members can be found at http://www.bllrf.org.uk/get_ready/volunteering_page.php. If you wish to engage them in your local planning please contact us at [email protected] or telephone 0300 300 4439.
It is important to make sure that you keep your community volunteers up to date and engaged with your emergency planning. You may wish to involve them in the exercising of your plan and pass on the information bulletins and training opportunities you will receive through BLEVEC. More information about managing groups of volunteers can be found at - Volunteering England: www.volunteering.org.uk
Tools: With your Community Emergency Group, consider what tools and machinery might be needed in an emergency. There may be people in your community who are qualified, capable and willing to operate these tools and machinery in an emergency.
Supplies: In an emergency, your community will require supplies, such as food and water, which may be difficult to obtain. The Community Emergency Group should consider talking with local businesses and suppliers who might be willing to provide these. If a written agreement is made between your community and the supplier, attach this to your Community Emergency Plan.
Transport: Knowing what local transport resources your community has (such as 4x4 vehicles) and how to access these could be of great benefit in an emergency. It is important to ensure that vehicle owners are properly licensed and insured to use their vehicles in this way. If you want to activate (in an emergency) support from BLEVEC organisations such as Beds, Herts and Cambs 4x4 Response Team please contact us to talk about putting in place arrangements at [email protected] or telephone 0300 300 4439. With your Community Emergency Group fill in the local skills and resource assessment. Add any written agreements that you have with local suppliers should be added to your plan. Step 6 – Identify organisations and groups that may know people that might need extra help in an emergency Now you know your local risks and the local skills and resources you have available, you need to think about those who may most need extra help in your community during an emergency.
It is important to ensure that isolated or vulnerable people are contacted to see if they need assistance during an emergency. Organisations such as Local Authorities, the NHS and Utility companies, have arrangements in place to help people to respond to, and recover from emergencies. These groups cannot always determine exactly what individuals want and need, nor can they always identify who in your community may be vulnerable in a crisis, particularly those who may not previously have received support. This requires local knowledge and your help.
Emergencies can make anyone vulnerable and they make life more difficult for those people who are already vulnerable. We (your local emergency responders) will need to help those in most need first, and it would assist us if the Community Emergency Group had an understanding of those in their community who might be vulnerable in an emergency and where they live. Think about how you can share this information with us if an emergency occurs. Local organisations will have a good idea of the people or communities who are vulnerable. You should consider maintaining a list of these organisations, such as identifying care homes or providers.
Bear in mind you will never be able to identify all the vulnerable people in your area, whether it is because they don’t see themselves as vulnerable, don’t want to impose on outside services, or may not want to share their personal information. Others will only become vulnerable during an emergency. Any lists you create during the planning phase will evolve during the event, so should be viewed only as a starting point to your response. It is important to note that:
people may become vulnerable at any point in their life and we can all be vulnerable in different circumstances;
being vulnerable means different things to different people and groups; and
vulnerabilities can vary in their duration and may last through the recovery from an emergency.
People who are deemed vulnerable may not engage with anyone they see as ‘official’. Examples may include:
people who have recently had an operation;
people without access to transport;
people with limited mobility;
groups that might find it difficult to understand emergency information; and
transient groups such as holiday makers or travelling communities.
Utility companies priority services Most utility companies such as Anglian Water, Veolia Water, Thames Valley Water, UK Power Networks (previously EDF Energy) have a special scheme in place to assist vulnerable people during a utility failure such as a water, gas or electricity supply failure. Your community can help by ensuring that any vulnerable people that you know are signed-up to these schemes. You can find out more about the schemes and how to register by contacting the utility companies directly or at: http://www.bllrf.org.uk/get_informed/rp_vulnerable_persons_plan
Promote sign-up to the utility companies priority services to known vulnerable people in your community.
With your Community Emergency Group complete the ‘list of organisations and groups that may be helpful in identifying people that might need extra help in an emergency’. You should also list here, any facilities such are care homes in your local area.
Step 7 - Identify key locations as places of safety In an emergency, there may be a need to set-up places of safety for people to go to. We (your local emergency responders) might need the Community Emergency Group’s assistance to help identify a safe place for people to shelter. During an emergency, it might be necessary for some members of your community to be evacuated from their homes to that safe place.
The local authority will, if necessary establish an assistance centre. An assistance centre is a one-stop shop for shelter, information and help (including 24hrs emergency accommodation). It is a physical point of focus for people affected by an emergency to meet their needs. In some circumstances, especially in wide spread emergencies this may not be possible and we may ask you as the Community Emergency Group, for example to:
open and run the assistance centre;
carry out door knocking or delivery of emergency messages; or
help identify those who may need extra assistance.
Different emergencies may affect different parts of your community in different ways so you should try to identify a number of alternative sites where people could be taken as a place of safety.
Buildings could include the village hall, scout hut, private businesses with space, community centre or even the local school. It is important that you get the permission of those responsible for any buildings you might use in an emergency.
Your local authority already have a list of buildings that can be used as assistance centres. You should contact us [email protected] or telephone 0300 300 4439 to find out places that have already been identified in your area and we can then help each other identify further locations that could be used and using your local knowledge.
With your Community Emergency Group complete the list of key locations you have identified for use as a place of safety or assistance centre. Step 8 – Agree how you are going to communicate with your community in an emergency The Community Emergency Group should discuss how it will communicate and pass messages out to your community and should also discuss contingencies if normal communication systems are disrupted in the area.
You may be able to communicate using various methods in different situations such as: email telephone, text messaging (you may be able to take advantage of SMS text messaging systems that are already in place, like in your local school), internet, walkie-talkies, door knocking or other forms of communications locally.
You should work with us (your local emergency responders) during an emergency to ensure any messages that you are delivering to the community are consistent with those issued by local or national authorities.
With your Community Emergency Group, complete the table ‘ways to communicate with your community’.
Step 9 - Decide when and how to activate your plan In any emergency, having an emergency plan is not a substitute for calling 999 if there is a risk to life. When an emergency happens, you will need to know how to activate your plan and contact your volunteers.
You will have already made the Bedfordshire and Luton Local Resilience Forum aware of your Community Emergency Plan as part of completing the earlier steps, so in many circumstances you may activate your plan in response to a call from us. However, if you are activating your own plan in an emergency you should contact us through the Local Authority Duty Emergency Planning Officer (this number is for use during an emergency only).
In certain circumstances, we may be unable to contact you to ask you to activate your plan. Therefore, you should develop a series of triggers you can use as a Community Emergency Group to decide whether to take action. For example:
Have you been able to contact us (your local emergency responders)?
What messages are being put out in the media?
What can you do safely without our (local emergency responders) help?
Using your list of skills, people and resources, you will need to decide what you can do to safely support our work. You should also use the recovery checklist included to look at any actions required to help your community recover from the incident.
Your volunteer community resilience champion and anyone else from your community emergency group that requests it will receive logon details for our emergency intranet. This will provide your community emergency group with an emergency log function to update us during an emergency on impacts in your community and the actions you are taking.
Contact us [email protected] or telephone 0300 300 4439 to get the Local Authority Duty Emergency Planning Officer number. Make sure that we have your communities emergency contact details.
With your Community Emergency Group, record your own activation triggers and first steps to take once an emergency has met the threshold for activating your plan (some steps have already been provided in the plan template as a starting point). Step 10 – Share your plan Once you have developed your plan, make sure your Community Emergency Group have copies. It is important that all members of the community feel that the plan works for them.
It is also important that you share your plan with us at [email protected] or telephone 0300 300 4439, so that, in the event of an emergency, we will know who to contact and what assistance you can provide.
You should record who has a copy of your plan and ensure that they receive a revised copy whenever it is updated.
Make sure you publicise the existence of the plan and possible the community emergency coordinator of group details to the community, for example through a parish magazine, on notice boards etc.
Data protection: Your plan may include personal contact details and information. It is important to know who has copies and make sure that the people who have provided their details know who has a copy of the plan or keep any sensitive contact details out of any widely publicised version. When you share your plan with us it may be shared in an emergency with local emergency responders, such as emergency planners from the local authorities, police, fire and ambulance and NHS to improve our response. When not an emergency the plans will be held by the emergency planning teams in the local authorities.
Complete the plan distribution list to show which individuals and organisations have a copy of your plan.
Make sure you share your completed plan with us [email protected] or telephone 0300 300 4439.
Step 11 – Ongoing actions: Testing, reviewing and updating your plan It is important to regularly review and update your Community Emergency Plan to ensure it meets the changing needs of your community. It is also important to make sure that your plan will work in an emergency. You may wish to practice activating the plan to test how well it would work in an emergency and see how ready members of your Community Emergency Team and volunteers are to carry out its actions. You should work with your local emergency responders, using the local risk assessment you have produced, to identify scenarios that you can use to test the arrangements you have made in your plan.
Practising the arrangements in your plan will allow you to identify any problems with it. Once you have practised your plan, you should review and update it. You should also regularly update the emergency contact details that you have in your plan to ensure they are still accurate.
We run numerous emergency exercises and if one is related to your area we will invite you to take part. This could be anything from a call-out exercise to test emergency contacts to a live exercise to open an assistance centre in your area.
When you make any changes and amendments to the plan, you should record the amendments to ensure that everyone knows they are using the latest version. You can record and maintain a list of updates to your plan in the plan amendments list.
It is important to keep accurate, up-to-date records of everyone who is in the Community Emergency Group, as well as others in the community who have offered their help in an emergency. This will help you to contact everyone quickly and make it easier for you and us to identify who is part of the Community Emergency Group. It is important to remember to keep personal details safe, and only share them with those who need the information. For further information see: www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/data_protection_guide.aspx
Make sure you share your updated plan with us [email protected] or telephone 0300 300 4439.
Useful information
Insurance, health & safety: When thinking about how community members can help, and the assets and resources you can use, you should think about insurance issues.
Many communities see insurance and liability as a barrier to preparing their community for emergencies. While liability is for the courts to decide, a common-sense approach to helping each other is required.
Please do not put yourself or others at risk when preparing or using your plan.
Communities have expressed concerns about having appropriate insurance and legal cover for their community emergency arrangements, in particular using assets like community centres and village halls as assistance centres or using vehicles as part of a community response. The Government is working with the insurance industry and community members to explore insurance and liability issues for a range of community emergency scenarios and will make the findings available publicly. Once they are available we will make them available to you. You can find help on insurance issues at www.abi.org.uk.
The BLEVEC emergency volunteer group is a partnership group bringing together various volunteers, charities and community groups to prepare, respond to and recover from emergencies. The partnership has arranged insurance cover via Zurich Municipal, who will provide members of BLEVEC including Employees, Board members and Volunteers with the following insurance cover: Public Liability Cover LOI (Level of Indemnity) £10 million Libel & Slander LOI £1 million Personal Accident and Assault.
The above insurance will provide cover for volunteers who are acting solely on the behalf of the Named Insured (BLEVEC), and working under their direction and control, subject to the usual policy terms and conditions. This insurance will not cover any activities the community emergency group does outside the direction of BLEVEC. If your community emergency group would like to arrange public liability insurance we can organise this for you. If interested please contact us [email protected] or telephone 0300 300 4439.
What the Government will do: The Strategic National Framework on Community Resilience sets out the Government’s contribution to enhancing and building individual, family and community resilience. The framework establishes a programme of work that will support and enable communities and individuals to be more prepared and resilient when facing emergencies and their consequences. The Government will:
remove the barriers which prevent participation such as concerns about liability and insurance; provide toolkits, templates and checklists to help you in your planning, and share information on the things you need to know for planning and preparing, such as relevant pieces of legislation and new funding streams;
listen to your feedback on our products and guidance, making changes where relevant;
help put you in touch with the right people and provide ways for you to communicate with the UK resilience community. In particular, we will support you to engage with local emergency responders and other communities through existing networks and structures;
let you know what is happening so that you have up-to-date, accurate information to make decisions and carry out activities at a local level;
set up relevant web pages to communicate and share information with you;
champion your work nationally and listen to, and learn from, your good practice; and
obtain useful advice from national bodies, promoting and sharing guidance from relevant organisations.
Funding arrangements: There may be circumstances in which you need additional funding to help enhance resilience in your community. There are many organisations, government departments and charities that provide funding for community groups. Below are some examples of tools which can help you find the best available funding for your community, as well as a selection of examples of national, regional and local funding. It is important to check the relevant websites for the most up to date information to ensure you meet the eligibility criteria or closing deadlines. These grant finding websites and tools have been developed to find the most suitable grant for community projects. The process involves a simple checklist to see what funding is available.
Grant Finder www.grantfinder.co.uk - Grants and policy database with details of 6,000 funding opportunities.
Funding Central www.fundingcentral.org.uk - Funding portal for all voluntary sector organisations, including community groups, providing access to 4,000 funding and finance opportunities, plus tools and resources supporting organisations to develop sustainable income strategies.
Government Funding www.governmentfunding.org.uk - Online portal to grants for the voluntary and community sector.
Lottery Funding www.lotteryfunding.org.uk - Lottery Funding is a joint website run by all Lottery funders in the UK. This site allows you to search information on current funding programmes across the UK.
Grantsnet www.grantsnet.co.uk - A search directory for grants and funding programmes available within the UK.
Office of the Civil Society www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/content/big-society-overview - The Office of the Civil Society regularly has information about new and existing grants.
Awards
There will be awards available for those communities who develop their plans and do a particularly good job. Prizes and awards include invites to the Queens Garden Party, Queen’s honours, Big society award, Queens award for voluntary service and the Emergency Planning Society awards.
Where to get more information:
Emergency Planning College – Knowledge hub http://www.epcollege.com/epc/knowledge- centre/document-hub/
Visit the ‘Bedfordshire and Luton Local Resilience Forum’ website www.bllrf.org.uk or contact us [email protected] or call 0300 300 4145.
The Strategic National Framework for Community Resilience sets out the Government’s strategic aims and objectives for the Community Resilience Programme. You are likely to find this document most useful if you who want to see how the Community Resilience Programme fits into the wider objectives of the Government.
The National Cabinet Office website introduces you to the first steps you could take to become better prepared to deal with emergencies. It uses case studies to explain the benefits experienced by communities who are already involved in community resilience. You are likely to find this document most useful if you are new to community resilience and want to find out more about what is involved.
The Preparing for Emergencies web pages are aimed at individuals, families, communities and businesses that want to find out more about how they can prepare for emergencies. The pages aim to answer questions around individual and community resilience and increase awareness of risks and vulnerability to risk. They also set out some easy steps for how you can improve your household preparedness. You are likely to find this document most useful if you would like more general information about emergency preparedness.
Informed. Prepared. Together - www.informedprepared.eu a gateway to resources, information and practical tools for developing the ability of individuals, communities and organisations to be better prepared to cope with emergencies and disasters.
For further information on the National Community Resilience Programme, please contact [email protected] or write to Community Resilience, Civil Contingencies Secretariat, 22 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2WH.